Tension compensating apparatus



Jan. 9, 1962 H. c. NOE

TENSION COMPENSATING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 9, 1959 INVENTOR. Hamid C. Hoe

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,015,871 TENSION COMPENSATING APPARATUS Harold C. Noe, Upper Montclair, N.J., assignor to Kidde Textile Machinery Corporation, Bloomfield, N.J., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 9, 1959, Ser. No. 785,817 4 Claims. (Cl. 28-36) The present invention relates to tension compensating devices for strand, sheet or web reeling and unreeling apparatus, and, more particularly, to such devices which can be utilized in connection with winding or beaming to provide a package or warp beam of yarn or for furnishing a strand or a warp of yarn to the knitting elements of a knitting machine.

In the course of winding or beaming yarn which ultimately is supplied to a knitting machine, it is highly desirable to uniformably tension the yarn throughout the length thereof as the package or warp beam grows in size to thereby provide a package or beam which supplies yarn at an even tension. It is likewise desirable to furnish yarn from a package or a warp from a beam to the knitting elements at a uniform tension to thereby facilitate even knitting of the fabric produced therefrom.

In the past, various types of such devices have been utilized which included a spring loaded arm or bar for sensing the yarn or warp tension and operating other means for adjusting the tension to a uniform value. The difliculty with such apparatus is that the arm or bar tends to hunt, whereby the tension in the yarn is only maintained within a band of tension variations.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a tension compensating device which is not subject to the foregoing difiiculties and disadvantages.

Another object is to provide such a device wherein a strand, a warp of strands or a web is fed positively at a rate to establish a desired tension and any change in tension is directly sensed by the feeding device which immediately is operated to control means for correcting the tension.

Another object is to provide such a device which operates in a manner to enable the same to be used in connection with winding or beaming, furnishing and controlling a warp let-off.

Another object is to provide such a device which is readily incorporated in newly built machines and is readily installed on existing machines.

A further object is to accomplish the foregoing in a simple, practical and economical manner.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.

In accordance with the present invention, the foregoing objects are generally accomplished by providing a device which essentially comprises a planetary gear drive for moving the material to be wound or unwound at a fixed lineal speed, a variable speed drive for winding or unwinding apparatus, and means responsive to the change in torque on the planetary gear drive for controlling the variable speed drive to wind or unwind the material at a constant lineal speed and thereby maintain the material at a substantially constant tension.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for punposes of illustration and description, and is shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specification, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view illustrating a device in accordance with the present invention applied to a warp- 3,015,87 1 Patented Jan. 9, 1962 ice ing or beaming machine to uniformly tension the yarn while being wound on the beam.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged detailed sectional view of a planetary gear drive for a yarn feeding roll.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary end view of the planetary gear drive shown in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings in detail, apparatus is shown which generally comprises a rotatably mounted warp beam 10, a variable speed drive 11 including a conventional variable speed pulley device 12, a reduction geared motor 14 for driving the pulley device, a roll 15 driven by the motor at a constant speed for feeding the warp at a constant lineal speed to the beam, and tension sensing means 16 for controlling the pulley device.

The variable speed pulley device 12 comprises an input pulley 17 driven by a belt 18 connected to an output pulley 19 of the motor 14, an output pulley 20 for driving a belt 21 for rotating a pulley 22 on the warp beam drive shaft, and a control element or arm 13 for changing the efiective diameters of the pulleys 17 and 20 which is pivotally mounted at 25 and is adapted to be rocked by turning a shaft24 threadedly connected thereto. The shaft 24 has a gear 23 thereon which is driven by a gear 9' on a sprocket 26, and the sprocket 26 in turn is driven by a chain 27 under the control of the means 16 as will be described hereinafter.

The variable speed pulley drive may be of the type sold by The Doall Company, Des Plaines, Illinois, under the trade name Speedmaster, model SO3.5.

The roll 15 has a drive shaft 28 which is driven by the tension sensing means 16 such as a planetary gear drive shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 and comprising an input gear 29 on the shaft 28 and rotatable with respect thereto, an output gear 30 secured to the shaft 28 for rotation therewith, and intermediate gears 31 and 32 mounted on a shaft 34 for rotation therewith, the gear 31 meshing with the gear 29 and the gear 32 meshing with the gear 30. The shaft 34 is rotatably supported by a bracket or casing 35 which is pivotally mounted, for example, about the shaft 28. The input gear 29 is secured for rotation with a sleeve 36 on the shaft 28 having a drive sprocket 37 thereon exteriorly of the casing which is driven by a chain 38 connected to an output sprocket 3-9 of the motor 14.

The casing 35 carries a weight 40 slidably mounted on an arm 41 for adjusting the torque which the weight is adapted to apply on the planetary gear train to thereby eifect or resist turning of the casing about the shaft 28 as changes in torque about the roll 15 take place. The turning of the casing controls the movement of the variable speed pulley control arm 13. This is accomplished by a sprocket 42 on the casing for driving the sprocket 26 by the control chain 27.

In passing the warp about the roll 15, the warp preferably is passed over two spaced idler rolls 43 and 44 in light contact with the roll 15.

In operation, as the beam increases in diameter tension T becomes greater than tension T because the lineal speed demanded by the beam 10 exceeds the constant lineal speed at which the roll 15 supplies the warp. The roll 15 then puts a torque on the planetary gear drive which is sensed and causes the casing to turn and adjust the speed change pulley 12 to effect rotation of the beam at a lesser speed which again makes the lineal speed of the warp at the beam equal to the lineal speed of the warp at the roll.

In the event the warp is being let-off the beam to supply the same by means of the roll to the knitting elements of a knitting machine driven at a constant speed in synchronism with the roll driving motor, the beam decreases in diameter whereby tension T becomes greater than tension T This change is again sensed, but in this use of the device, the control for the variable speed pulley is arranged to drive the beam at a greater speed which again makes the lineal speed of the warp at the beam equal to the lineal speed of the warp at the roll.

While the present invention has been illustrated and described by reference to a warp beam, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the invention can be applied in winding or unwinding material such as single strands of wire or yarns and the like or in winding or unwinding strips or webs of paper or fabric and the like.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the present invention provides apparatus for compensating tension both in winding or unwinding operations. This apparatus is simple and practical, and responds instantly to restore proper tension conditions for knitting or beamin g without hunting.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts herein, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in any limiting sense.

I claim:

1. In warp tension compensating appaartus, the combination of a rotatably mounted means having material wound thereon, a rotatable shaft, a roll about which the material passes mounted on said shaft for rotation therewith, a first gear rotatably mounted on said shaft, a second gear mounted on said shaft for rotation therewith, third and fourth gears mounted for rotation together about a common axis, means for pivotally supporting said third and fourth gears on said shaft with said third gear in driving connection with said first gear and said fourth gear in driving connection with said second gear, means for driving said first gear and said rotatably mounted means including a variable speed drive for said rotatably mounted means provided with a control element, and means on said third and fourth gear supporting means connected to said control element for controlling the speed at which said rotatably mounted means is driven.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, including means for applying a load on said third and fourth gear supporting means to bias said control element.

3. In warp tension compensating apparatus, the combination of a rotatably mounted warp beam, a rotatable shaft, a roll about which the warp passes mounted on said shaft for rotation therewith, a first gear rotatably mounted on said shaft, a second gear mounted on said shaft for rotation therewith, a second shaft, third and fourth gears mounted on said second shaft for rotation together, a bracket for pivotally supporting said second shaft on said first mentioned shaft with said third gear in mesh with said first gear and said fourth gear in mesh with said second gear, means for driving said first gear and said warp beam including a variable speed drive for said warp beam provided with a control element, and means on said bracket connected to said control element for controlling the speed at which said warp beam is driven.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, including a counterweight on said bracket for biasing said control element.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,168,071 Perry Aug. 1, 1939 

